1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a chemical mechanical polishing system suitable for use in semiconductor manufacturing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In semiconductor substrate manufacturing, the use of chemical mechanical polishing, or CMP, has gained favor due to the widespread use of damascene interconnects structures during integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing. Although many commercially available CMP systems have demonstrated robust polishing performance, the move to smaller line widths requiring more precise fabrication techniques, along with a continual need for increased throughput and lower cost of consumables, drives an ongoing effort for polishing system improvements. Moreover, most conventional polishing systems have relatively limited flexibility for changes to processing routines, thereby limiting the diversity of processes that may be run through a single tool. Thus, certain new processing routines may require new or dedicated tools, or costly downtime for substantial tool configurational changes.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved chemical mechanical polishing system.